Cable Installation Rates to Drop

Rates for installing cable television in the east San Fernando Valley will drop slightly for TCI customers, based on an agreement approved Tuesday by the Los Angeles City Council.

The city, which has the authority to regulate cable rates, objected to the hourly installation charge of $35.54 that TCI, a cable giant based in Colorado, wanted to charge consumers.

“We challenged the method that they used to come up with that number,” said Paul Janis, acting assistant general manager of the city’s Information Technology Agency. Instead of averaging its costs nationwide to come up with a fair rate, TCI sampled less than 10% of its systems, Janis said.

For the past year and a half, the city has been wrangling with TCI over the proposed rate hike. Eventually, Janis said, the company agreed to lower installation rates based on an hourly service charge of $27. For the past year, the company has been charging $29 per hour while it sought approval of the higher rate.

Kurt Taylor, general manager of TCI in the East Valley, declined to comment on the council’s vote. By a 12-0 vote, the council also approved a refund agreement, under which TCI will refund a total of $45,000 to about 110,000 subscribers in North Hollywood, Pacoima and part of Sylmar.